Hopeful Winter
by NoVa-Vo1
Summary: basically, Naru x Ino fic, can't give away story here, but you can come in and read! so the characters are 18... and yeah the stories explains everything
1. I'm missing you

A/N I don't own Naruto… but I did come up with this story… and yeah.

Intro: Basically, I'm gonna make this a 3 chapter story. Its supposed to be a one act, but I just separated into 3 chapters for the sake of me not slaving over this for YEARS. I mean it took me 2 months just to get this thing you're about to read. Well yeah… Naruto and Ino pairning basically…. And they're all about 18 or so… yeah. Enjoy reading!

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_When you're gone the pieces of my heart I'm missing you. _

_When you're gone the face I came to know is a missing to. _

_When you're gone the words I need to hear to always get me through the day _

_And make it okay, I miss you_

- Avril Lavigne

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Snow drifted from the skies and landed on the empty playground. Naruto gazed up, following a snowflake's trail to the ground and then let out a sigh. He shifted his eyes and looked at the corner of the playground where he remembered the time when he first met Sakura.

"_Hi there." Came a voice from behind the 8 year old Naruto._

_Naruto turned and saw a girl who was about the same age as he was. Her pink hair moved softly in the wind, but he paid no attention to her. He turned back and began to stare at the ground below him._

"_I'm Sakura, what's yo.." _

"_Shut up. Don't pretend to be nice, I know you'll hate me like everyone else in the village."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean what I just said; you'll just hate..." Sakura sat down beside Naruto and laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his. "me…like…" Naruto was unable to finish his sentence, and just looked up at the sky._

"_I like you, I like the way you smell." said Sakura as she looked up at the sky. _

_Sakura looked at Naruto and the way the setting sun coloured his face a light shade of orange. He looked down at her and as their eyes met Sakura saw his beautiful azure eyes that hid the pain that he had suffered. She tightened her grip and still resting her head on his shoulder, Sakura looked up at the sky and said_

"_I'll never hate you, we'll always be friends. I won't let anyone hurt you again."_

Naruto let out a sigh before looking down at the snow by his feet and drearily made his way towards one of the benches. He sat there alone, oblivious to the world, as time flowed daintily around him. Suddenly he felt something push him, which threw him onto his back.

"Hey Naruto!" Said Ino, standing beside the bench and giving Naruto a smile.

Naruto turned his head, gave the blonde kunoichi a weak smile and simply said, "Hey…"

Ino sensed that Naruto wasn't in the mood to talk. She helped Naruto back up and simply sat down with him.

"Are you still thinking about Sakura?"

Naruto flinched at the name and couldn't stop his tears from escaping.

_2 Days Ago._

Ino sighed as she sat down in front the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop. She put her arms on the table and huddled her face in them. God… I hate winter; no one ever comes and buys flowers… I don't get why we have to even open the shop… The bell on the door rang as it opened. Naruto came walking in and stood in front of her, looking at her sleeping quietly. He noticed the way her bangs came over her eyes, half covering them.

"Hey Ino! Paying customer here, why don't you stop sleeping on your job and start paying more attention!"

Ino slowly turned her head to the boy standing in front of him. "Oh… hey Naruto. How's it going?"

"Good. Now I need some help, I need to get some flowers." Naruto grinned at Ino, as he looked around at all the flowers surrounding him.

"I bet they're for Sakura" Ino gave Naruto a sly grin as he blushed. "No, they're actually not…. The house has been looking really dreary these few days, since Sakura's been out on a mission."

"Oh? What mission does Sakura have this time?" Ino began to look around for something colourful, but not too flashy for Naruto. Naruto followed her as she began to pick out some flowers here and there. "uhh… something about going to the Hidden Mist to make some peace treaties…I think…"

All of a sudden, a ninja burst in. "Naruto, Ino. Come with me, the Hokage needs to tell you two some important information." Naruto and Ino looked at each other wondering what it could be, but either way, Ino quickly close down the store and the three went to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade sat at her hair staring gravely at the reports in front of her as Naruto and Ino came in with their guide. "Hokage-sama, Naruto and Ino are here." Tsunade motioned her arm to tell the guide to leave.

"Naruto, I am about to tell you something, I don't want you to over react. Please stay calm."

Ino looked over at Naruto grimly already guessing at what she was about to say.

"The group of ninjas that we sent over to the Hidden Mist….they were ambushed by a group of rogue-nin who were trying to destroy the relations between Konoha and the Mist."

Naruto stared blankly at Tsunade, waiting for more information. "Baa-chan… g…go on…"

"The group was caught completely off guard, only one survived. Sasuke tried to run away with Sakura, but both were too injured. Obviously, both of them collapsed from fatigue after running a fair distance. Our medic-nins found them, Sasuke had barely survived… and…Sakura was dead by that time."

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A/N: if you haven't realized… or at least I hope I don't imply this too much XD. But uh Naruto and Sakura live in the same house, they're supposed to be like siblings, not lovers, so maybe I didn't stress that enough here… just to tell you, so no mix ups XD. 


	2. Keep Holding On part 1

A/N: I do not own Naruto… but I did come up with the story and I'm just borrowing the characters ).

So yeah. This chapter took me a LONG time to write. Well actually not. I finished this a while ago, it just hasn't met my hopes of making it longer, but I've been too busy lately to continue it, so therefore I just cut it really short and I'll just either edit this later and make it LONGER or I'll just write a new chapter. So. Yeah… enjoy?

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_When it gets cold_

_And it feels like the end_

_There's no place to go_

_You know I won't give in._

Avril Lavigne

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Naruto lay on his bed staring at the ceiling blankly, lost in thought. He hadn't slept at all for the past two nights, and could hardly think properly anymore. He let his head hang off the side of the bed and he stared through the door at the dimly lit room across the hall.

'_Nee-chan_…'

Drips of water hitting the cold wooden floor broke the silence in the lifeless house. Naruto wiped his tears with his arm and curled up into a ball on the bed and fell into a listless sleep.

Ino rolled over on her bed and looked blankly at the ceiling. She couldn't get the image of Naruto out of her head, the way he sat at the park and how lonely he seemed. 5:00… still have lots of time before the funeral…maybe a walk will help clear my mind and kill some time.

Ino put on warmer clothes and grabbed her coat as she walked out the door. She watched the way her breath puffed out and disappeared into the sky. Damned chilly mornings…

The chilling air seemed to pierce through Ino's skin, but she still continued to wander aimlessly through the streets of Konoha. She soon came upon a familiar sight, where the ground began to slope down slightly and she followed it with her eyes until she saw the river. Leaning against the tree at the top of the slope, she couldn't help but smile.

"Ino-chan!" Ino turned around and saw Sakura smiling at her but she noticed somethingor rather someone

"_Who's that behind you Sakura-chan?"_

"_Oh! This is my new baby brother!"_

_Naruto shyly looked from behind Sakura, "H…Hi."_

_Ino was annoyed by Naruto's shyness and grabbed his hand and pulled him out from behind Sakura. "Get out from behind there! So. What's your name?"_

"_N…Naru…" Ino glared at Naruto and he hid behind Sakura again._

"_His name's Naruto. He's kind of shy." Sakura turned around and began trying to convince Naruto to not be afraid of Ino._

"_Well… I hate boys that are shy like that.Tthey should be more outgoing!" _

_Naruto then jumped from behind Sakura. Gathering his courage, he managed to shout, "MY NAME IS NARUTO! And… and I'm going to become a ninja to protect my sister!!"_

_Ino began to giggle and then she gave Naruto a big smile, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, and I'm going to become a ninja too so I can protect weaker people like SAKURA!!!"_

"_HEY!!" Sakura pouted, "Well I'M going to become a ninja too then! And I'll become a better ninja than you YAMANAKA!"_

"_Then it's a challenge eh? Well let's see who can become the best ninja out of all of us!" _

_Ino put her pinky forward showing the other two that it was going to be a promise. Sakura quickly put her pinky around Ino's and Naruto hesitantly put his forward too._

"_Then we'll see whose gonna win!"_

Ino felt tears streaming down her face and she watched them land in the snow. The best ninja… I wonder who that really was. We all have come a long way, but Naruto and Sakura have gone beyond me. She wiped away the last of her tears with her hands and let herself fall slowlysitting on the tree. _Naruto… Sakura..._

Naruto sat up suddenly and turned to look at his clock. '_7:29...Still got some time.'_ He slowly crawled out of bed and put on his funeral attire. He glanced at the picture by his bed beside him, and picked it up. The picture was of him, Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke, when they all went to the beach a few weeks ago. He looked at the way everyone was smiling and how Sasuke was the only one who was acting all cool in the picture, no matter how much Sakura was pulling at him. Naruto grinned to himself as he remembered the last time all four friends were together. Whatever happened to all the happiness, why did this have to happen…?

Naruto got up from his bed and slowly made his way to the door. He opened the door and found Ino standing at the door, looking back at him. She blushed lightly and quickly looked away from him. Naruto did the same and just looked at the gorund, realizing what he had been putting her through for the last few days. Taking everything upon himself, secluding himself from the world, especially from his friends.

"Hey… Ino…"

"Naruto…" Ino looked up at Naruto who was trying to avoid looking at her.

"I was just about to…" Naruto stopped short as he felt Ino put her hands around his neck and embraced him a hug.

Naruto froze and he slowly looked down at the blonde whose face was buried into his shirt. He began to feel something warm on his shirt and which seem to spread. His arms hesitated to move but they slowly wrapped around Ino and hugged her back.


	3. Keep Holding On part 2

The dimly lit room was filled with a deafening silence as the two occupants were situated on the opposite ends of the room. Naruto sat on a stool gloomily staring down at the floor. Ino was hugging her legs to her chest on the couch, hoping to catch Naruto's eye looking at her but he merely stared at the cold wooden floor.

Ino finally gave up and rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes. She let the silence sink into her mind as she continued to let her thoughts run through her mind.

_How did it turn out like this?_

Ino let the memory replay through her mind. She remembered how her heart longed to be with Naruto and how she couldn't control herself when she saw him. She remembered the warmth of his body against hers. The way it felt when he put his arms around her. And the way it was all gone within a second. How he staggered away from her as if she were… something he hated.

Ino was exhausted due to lack of sleep and the emotional distress that she had experienced. She stared at her feet for another second and then turned her heads towards Naruto. He still sat there completely motionless, if he hadn't blinked, Ino would've never known he was still alive. Ino lifted her head up and opened her mouth to say something.

N-Naru…" It came out like a whisper and faded away instantly when the doorbell rang abruptly. She felt her body shake and then the rising of her goose bumps all over her body. Before she realized it, Ino was staring at the floor again. Her heart was beating fast, breaths quick and short.

A few steps in front of her, Ino saw her own reflection of herself in the mirror. She looked curiously at it, as if she had never seen herself before. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a mess, and she looked as if she had just gone through two days without any sleep.

_Pathetic. Ino, you look pathetic, look at yourself._

The bell rang a second time and the silence was broken again, but still, neither of them moved. Naruto seemed to be too deep into his thoughts to care about the world around him, and Ino daren't move, as if afraid to disturb Naruto and to let anyone else see her current state. But the bell rang a third time, then a fourth, then it seemed as if someone was beating the doorbell with their fingers.

_fuc…ing. Who the hell... _Ino stood up and stalked angrily towards the door, completely forgetting how she looked like, as the doorbell continued to ring irritatingly. _STOP RINGING THE FUCKING DOORBELL_. She yanked the door open violently, she was about to say something, but was cut off.

"_What the hell took you so long bastard."_

"Yeah… you're too troubl…Ino?"

Ino stared at the two individuals at the door, as if they were complete strangers. The first seemed to have just gotten out of the hospital, he was standing with the aid of crutches, with bandages around his neck and forehead, not to mention, there were still a few scratches and scrapes on his left cheek. His jet black hair came down and covered the side of his face hiding some of the injuries, but his even darker eyes gave a quick look at Ino and were fixed upon something else behind her. He was clearly uninterested at Ino and continued to shout curses at the oblivious boy behind her.

The second was staring straight at her, as if she was wearing something horrendously ugly, or maybe because of the way she looked. He was supporting the first individual, in case he fell, Ino guessed. He was still leaning carelessly against the door's frame, but his face was completely surprised at the situation before him.

A voice interrupted from behind the two standing at the door, "HEY! What's taking so long?! I have to go pick up some extra bags of chips before we get there!"

Shikamaru gave a sigh, "We've just encountered something… unexpected. Give us a second." He quickly glanced past Ino to see what Sasuke was shouting about. Naruto was still sitting on his chair, wearing his black suit, not even a stir came from him. Shikamaru couldn't help to focus back on Ino, as if it were the first time he'd seen her.

"OI... Teme…Get your ass out here, we gotta go or we're gonna be late." Sasuke yelled at Naruto as he took a few steps and passed Ino. He saw Naruto a better and realized what he was doing. "The hell are you doing? Sulking? We have to GO!"

Naruto slowly looked up towards Sasuke, his face was blank and emotionless, but suddenly the largest grin anyone has ever seen grew on his face. "You're right for once TEME. LET'S GET GOING! Wouldn't want to be late! Sakura would kill me if I was late for her funeral!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the arm and dragged him down the front stairs and onto the road. It was then that Naruto finally noticed all the friends that had gathered to come and get him. There was Neji looking arrogant as ever as he stood leaning against a pole, eyes closed, Shikmaru still standing at the door looking back grinning slightly, Chouji eating his bag of chips and giving back a big smile, Shino was standing there silent, as usual, Lee whose eyes were wet and watery still, Kiba who gave Naruto a big smile and a light punch to his cheek, and he finally looked at Sasuke was kind of in his chokehold.

"Wait… Where's Ino?" Catching her figure through the door, past Shikamaru, Naruto suddenly let go of Sasuke and ran back into the house.

Sasuke plummeted to the floor and the snow got into his mouth, and he yelled at Naruto while spitting out the snow at the same time, "OI! Where are you going again?!"

"WE GOTTA GO!!!" shouted the entire group at once.

Naruto ignored their remarks and ran quickly towards the direction that they had just come from.

Inside the house, however, was Ino, standing alone, staring at the floor with tears rolling down her cheeks. Shikamaru stood at the door looking at her back. He took a slow step towards Ino, and he opened his mouth to say something but he heard footsteps behind him. He glanced back and saw Naruto.

Naruto was standing at the door, panting slightly. Taking small steps, Naruto slowly walked until he was standing behind Ino. He heard her soft sobs and couldn't help but to grin a little.

"Silly girl…Did you think I'd just leave you here?"

Ino felt Naruto's hand on her head ruffling her hair. Then she turned around and pushed him away with her hand. "I hate it when you do that…" sniffling still, and wiping her tears away with her hands, but still managing to smile a bit. There was a tug on her hand and her head fell forwards a bit but was pulled back up. She looked back up to see Naruto, who was slightly red, holding her hand. "Sorry, but we really gotta go!"

The two of them ran out the door and met up with the group again, while leaving Shikamaru still standing at the door. "Oi! NARU…what's the point." He looked around the room once more before he left and closed the door behind him. He looked at the group of friends in front of him, with Naruto at the front yelling something inaudible. He couldn't help but to feel something inside him burning. He felt an uncontrollably surge of anger and wasn't quite sure why.

_No… that…that's impossible._

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A/N: another long time for an update! I hope you enjoyed it o.O if you guys could comment on the story itself so far because I don't know if I made things for the better or not o.O. 


	4. The Funeral

Just thought I'd let you guys know i'm still alive with a short update again... so yeah. this is ch 4.. prebeta so i might upload a newer version once i get it beta'ed ! haha

Enjoy.

i guess i should include this. i dont own naruto but this is my story and i can make anything happen ).

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There were no clouds hanging in the sky today; the sun shone brightly, but still bitter coldness filled the air. Sorrow and grief lingered, accompanied by the soft sobs of those that had gathered. Rows upon rows of chairs had been placed facing the podium, leaving an aisle in the middle. Behind the podium was a white coffin, with its lid open, revealing the body of the pink haired kunoichi, who had lost her life on a mission.

People were still coming to attend the funeral, but all had the same reaction when they saw the front. A young blonde boy was standing by the coffin, back against the chairs, head down, most probably staring at body of his loved one. Thoughts of pity would dance through their minds, and then they would quickly take a seat, awaiting the funeral to begin.

The front two rows were filled with the deceased's closest friends and families. Familiar faces began to automatically fill the two rows up. Ino peered around at those around her, seeing that Hinata, Ten Ten, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and many others had arrived as well. Then she looked at the empty seat beside her, and then glanced towards the front to where Naruto stood.

Ino felt something on her shoulder, so she looked at what it was. The Fifth was looking at her, hand on Ino's shoulder. The Fifth nodded her head at Ino; understanding what to do, Ino stood up from her seat and started to make her way towards the front.

The slight murmur of voices, the sobs from the tears that were shed, the light breeze that shook the desolate branches of trees, everything seemed to fade away as Ino got closer and closer to him. Every step brought her closer, and it made her heart pump faster and faster. Then before she even realized it, she was standing right behind him.

The breeze gently caressed her soft blonde hair as she stood there silently; mind racing with thoughts of what she could say, heart beating compulsively.

"Ino."

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of her name.

"Let's go."

Before she could react, she felt Naruto grab her hand and begin to pull her back towards her chair. She half tripped while getting off the stage but he turned around and caught her.

Ino looked up from his arms and saw him smiling with his eyes closed. Then he opened his eyes and then began to blink funny as if he wasn't sure of what he was seeing.

Quickly realizing what was wrong she put her hands to her face to cover up her flushing cheeks, "It's getting really cold out here!" Then she ran for her seat and quickly sat down.

_Ino… what's wrong with you today. You're a complete mess!_

Naruto stood there completely dazed and confused, with a blank stare at floor between his arms where Ino was. He slowly turned his heads to where she was sitting before Tsunade came and began to talk to him about the formalities of the funeral.

"Hey Ino."

Ino practically jumped out of her seat at the sudden interruption. She began to blush even more and began to look around to see who called her.

Shikamaru was sitting beside her giving the weirdest look ever.

Ino began to shout in a loud voice while fidgeting with her hands, "SHIKAMARU! Where.. uhh.. when did you get… I mean… where'd you come from?!"

"Can you control your voice please…" He began while still covering his ears from how loud her voice was, "and I was always here…"

"s-s-s-s-o y-y-you s-saw what happened?"

"If you're talking about you being in Naruto's arm, then suddenly running back here. Then yes."

"DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT!"

"Hunh? Why. Do you like Naruto or something?"

Ino turned away and began to look down at her knees.

"…you can't be serious… I was only kidding… wow…"

For some reason Shikamaru felt very bothered by this piece of information. It felt as if he was heart was being ripped out of his chest. It never bothered him before whenever Ino would tell these kinds of things to him, but now it seemed to crush his entire world.

Then a soft voice broke Shikamaru from his thoughts, "Do you think… that's bad?"

"Bad?" He looked towards Naruto, who was still talking to Tsunade about something. "No! of course not. Naruto's a great guy. Even I believe that he's going to be the Roukudaime, never thought I'd say that, but I actually think he is."

Ino smiled at Shikamaru, "Thanks Shika! I knew that you'd support me, like you always do. You'll always be my best friend!"

He forced himself to smile back. _Yeah… always just your best friend._

Shikamaru continued to brood in his thoughts as Naruto took his seat beside Ino and Tsunade started the funeral off.

"…and let's have Shikamaru come up now to say a few words…Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru continued to look down at his hands.

Ino looked at Shikamaru and nudged him a bit. "Oi. Shika, go up!"

"hunh? Oh! Right…"

As Shikamaru went up, Ino looked at Naruto who seemed to be staring blankly up at the podium. Ino felt that his body was there at the funeral, but his mind was elsewhere.

After an hour or so, the funeral still ran and Ino kept on glimpsing at Naruto. He was still sitting there in his chair, looking at the podium, unmoved. He didn't show any emotion and never even flinched no matter what other people said about Sakura.

Then it hit her.

She had an idea.

Her hand made a seal and she felt herself float off the chair. She looked at the sea of black where the chairs were, and focused back at Naruto. She flew towards Naruto and everything went black.

The drips of water echoed through Ino's mind. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself at a dark, greenish ceiling. She took in her surroundings and saw that she was in an endless hallway with corridors on both sides every few feet.

Water continued to drip and it resonated through the long hallway. Ino looked up at the roof and watched one droplet fall onto the floor, leaving the floor to ripple. Ino quickly got onto her knees and squinted her eyes to focus on the floor. She could scarcely make out her own reflection and quickly stood up looking all around her. She ran down the hallway but she seemed to always end up where she started, or more like the hallway was exactly the same and never ended.

Her breaths were fast and short, her black dress was wet from her sweat. A slight chill went down her spine.

_Where am I?_

Ino was alone somewhere, she had no idea where, she had no weapons, she had no way to get out, and the last thing she remembered was that she went into…Naruto's… mind?

She began to calm down a bit, having SOME idea of where she possibly could be. She decided to walk down one of the corridors and she saw something at the end of it. Her eyes tried their best to focus on what was ahead, which seemed impossible in the dimly lit hallway. A large room was at the end of the hallway, from what Ino could see. She finally got there and peeked into in and saw a giant room, a dim red colour tinted the room, and she finally saw a boy standing in the middle of the room, slowly sinking into the water on the floor.

She cautiously moved closer and could make out that he was wearing an all black suit and light coloured hair.

"Naruto?"

_You're not going to interfere with me little girl. Don't think you can save him. He's going to be mine now._

Ino tried to turn around but before she could her entire body was constricted by something. She winced and her eyes cinched together due to the searing pain throughout her entire body. She cleaved her eyes open with all her will power to see something red waving around in front of her and the boy almost completely below the water. Then she felt her body go numb but her heart continued to throb in pain as it felt like it was trying to jump out from her chest.

Everything began to go black, her mind blanked out and her eyelids opened by themselves and the pupils in her cerulean eyes wandered around, just catching the boy struggling to get out from the water.


	5. A little note

Hello to all those people who are currently reading this.

To those who have subscribed, I bet you're thinking to yourself. What is this?

Well haha… I guess I've half forgotten about this, half been lazy about it. So together it means that I haven't been posting! So much for my 1 month 1 chapter idea.

I'll let you in on a secret. I've actually been pretty much finished the next chapter for well over a year now (so I actually had most of the chapter done within 1 month of last post). The only problem is that I haven't got around to editing it. It's not quite where I want it to be… so yeah. I'm aiming to finish that as soon as I'm done my exams! Which ends in about 2 weeks. So look forward to that!

I will try my best to do this!

A little more to add, I haven't actually been getting messages from about reviews and stuff so, sorry if I haven't replied. I'm not trying to be a jerk, it's just that I didn't know that they were there XD.

My goal is to finish this… soon? Somehow I'll manage it.

and guess what? i'm alive =)


	6. The Turnaround

A/N: SO HERE IT IS! woooh. after much time it's here. but yeah. i'm planning on getting another one up on christmas AND new years. i'm not too sure about the new years one though. i will definitely do my best to get 2 of them up... because those are two major events that happens to EVERYONe. right? right. i hope there's no major mistakes in this chapter... and yeah.

* * *

The pain embraced me, and I felt it penetrating through my entire body, into my core. I don't quite remember what was happening. I just wanted it all to stop. And it did.

The pain slowly relaxed its grip on me; I could feel the burning as my blood rushed through my body. I tried to get up, but the pain left my body too weak to even move a single muscle. Then I felt my body move, I was leaning against something or someone.

I wrenched my eyes open to see but then they quickly flinched shut when something wet hit them. Then I felt another land on my cheek; it slowly rolled down my cheek followed by a light splashing sound. There was another, and another, and another. I could've sworn it was raining but somehow I knew that wasn't the reason. My consciousness was slowly slipping, I could hardly feel my body anymore, the gentle splashing echoed through my mind like a lullaby

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you suddenly wake up from because you just fell 20 floors and landed on your bed? Well, that's how I felt except I landed on shards of glass all over the floor. A cold, hard floor. It hurt like hell. I couldn't really tell you much about what happened after, it was all a blur. Except, there was this weird sadness within me, maybe it was the fact that I just had the two most painful moments in my life, or maybe it just my imagination.

When I finally came to and have conscious memories about it, all my friends were around me. It was nice and all, but I couldn't get the colour orange out of my mind. Maybe because I never saw it. It was really hard to focus on what everyone was saying to me, I was really glad when the nurse made them all leave so the doctor could make sure I wasn't dying on the inside.

_Two days go by._

These four white walls around me, they seem to keep me trapped like a jail. I can't even leave my room to get what I want the most, to see _him._ He hasn't come at all; it's already been 3 days since I've been here. Why hasn't he come to visit me…

"Come on honey, let's get you out of here."

Ino suddenly snapped her head around from the window and towards her father.

"You mean, I finally get to leave?"

"Well, what else do you think I meant?"

She quickly ripped the blanket off her body and quickly grabbed some clothes from her bag and ran into the washroom, slamming the door shut.

Ino walked out through the doors of hospital to only be blinded by the brightness of the sun and its reflection off the snow. She looked around at the mounds of snow and felt a chill run down her spine. _I hate snow. _She grabbed her coat collar together with both her hands to keep herself warm and away from the cold snow.

Inoichi walked up beside her, and couldn't help but to laugh at his daughter.

"Come on Ino. You still can't hate the snow can you?"

"Of course NOT, Daddy."

She looked to Inoichi who was carrying all her luggage and gave him a smile then quickly turned back, making a disgusted look on her face.

"Don't think I didn't see that. But anyway, let's go home before it starts to blizzard, one heck of a storm coming."

"Daddy… why don't you go home first. I'll be back later."

"Oh? Where could my snow-hating daughter go with all this snow around?"

"It's your fault I hate snow. And it's not like I hate it, I just don't… like it… that much… and I think I'm just gonna go visit Sakura's grave… it's been a week and the funeral… was kinda a bit fuzzy for me."

"Hey. You walked into…"

"SHUT UP! Don't say anything about it, someone could hear!"

Ino pushed her palm over Inoichi's mouth and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. Then she slowly pulled it away, "Bye Daddy! I'll be home sometime tonight!" gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran down the street. Inoichi looked down at the luggage he was holding and gave a sigh.

"Well, I better get going before the storm hits."

Ino looked back and to make sure that the hospital was no longer in sight. She slowed down to nearly a crawl and felt her smile fade away. Although she loved her father, she couldn't let him know about what she was going through. She couldn't stand to see him anymore worried than he already had been. To see him sad. To see him take all the responsibility on himself and try to fix it. And most importantly, to see him overreact and quite possibly murder Naruto.

She felt herself giggle a little at the last thought. Naruto… that boy… She was so lost in her thought she didn't even notice that she was standing in front of the cemetery gates. Coming back to the world, she slowly opened the gate and began to look around for Sakura's grave. After a few minutes of searching, Ino found it near the back, close to the Hokages'.

She looked down at the flowers slightly covered by the snow. Casablanca… Only Naruto would know to get these. She looked up at the grave, gently putting her hand beside the picture that was there. "Guess I'm not the only the one who hasn't been visited, eh Sakura?"

She crouched down and picked up a single flower, spinning it in between her fingers. A smile came across her face as she looked down at the grave. Inside though, she was struggling, her insides felt like they were crumpling together in a tight ball, but her eyes began to water no matter how hard she struggled.

You really aren't here anymore… are you Sakura? She held the white flower tightly with her hand now as the tears began to escape though she continued to struggle. _You really aren't here_. She fell onto her knees, crushing the flower against her heaving chest, and finally letting the tears stream down her face.

The wind blew, gently caressing her face and drying her tears. She slowly stood up, her eyes never leaving the picture on the grave. Then suddenly realizing how tense her hands were she began to relax, unveiling the mangled flower behind her white gloves. She knelt back down and placed the flower on top of a patch of untouched snow, wiped away the last of the tears with her sleeve, and gave a weak smile. I'll come visit you again soon Sakura.

Heading towards the gate, she felt the grave grow farther and farther away from her. She wanted to run back and to sit there at the grave, talking about all sorts of things, but Ino knew she shouldn't. It would only make things harder for her in the long run. She finally reached the gate and the sounds of children's laughter help to drown out her feelings.

Aiii…that was depressing… and this STUPID snow isn't helping. Ino kicked a pile of snow on the floor, getting her boots covered in snow._ ugh_. She was shaking the snow off when a few children playing in front of her caught her attention. A girl was running away from a boy but the girl slipped on some ice and fell onto the ground. The boy quickly ran to her and knelt down.

"Are you okay?"

The girl began to sniffle, trying to hold back her tears. The boy grabbed her hand shouting loudly, "Don't cry! It's okay! I'll never let you get hurt again as long as I'm alive!" The girl looked up at him, smiling as if all the pain had been drained away with that line.

What is this? Some cliché story? Children sure have no idea what's going in the real world. I guess it's still kinda cute though…

She slowly turned her head away, looking down the street, as the setting sun shone back at her eyes. Maybe… I'll go see what Naruto's up to… I haven't seen him since… then. A quick memory of the mind transfer jutsu she used during the funeral came into her head. Her body went completely limp, falling towards the ground, but she managed to grab onto a light pole beside her.

"Are you okay, Onee-san?"

Ino looked down at the little girl standing in front of her, "Yeah." She slowly pulled herself up and watched as the little girl ran back to the boy who was waiting for her, and how they held their hands together as they walked away.

Definitely cute though. Ino let out a sigh and began to make her way towards Naruto's house.

Ino was finally nearing Naruto's house, but she began to hesitate as she grew closer and closer. What if he doesn't want to see me… what if he wants to be left alone. Her footsteps grew slower and softer with every one until she completely stopped. She bit her thumb, what if he figured out that I like him and he doesn't know what to do about it… I mean I've always been like a sister to him…

A thousand thoughts ran through her head both encouraging and discouraging her to turn the corner and walk towards the house. Ino felt extremely frustrated and began to mess her hair up with her hands. Suddenly, she threw her arms up into the air and looked up at the sky

"ALRIGHT! I DECIDED!"

"Decided on what?"

Her entire body shook and she quickly looked back down to see Naruto. Surprisingly, he

wasn't wearing anything orange, just a black t-shirt and a pair of dark green sweats, but that's beside the point here.

"N-nothing!"

Naruto gave a suspicious smile at her and walked closer to her.

"Are you sure about that?"

"O-of COURSE!"

"hahahahahahaahha. Okay. So what brings you out here?"

"What brings me… out here??..." Ino completely forgot where she was and why she had come here in the first place. "Wait… what brings YOU out here, and why aren't you wearing a coat?! AND WHY DIDN'T YOU VISIT ME AT THE HOSPITAL?!"

"Woah woah, calm down there Ino… I have a very logical explanation for this! Let's get to the house first, you look…" Naruto looked at the frazzled Ino, her hair was floating around everywhere and her cheeks were completely flushed, "…cold."

The two started walking back to Naruto's house.

"YOU! LOGICAL?! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!"

"You know, you don't have to shout…"

As soon as Ino walked through the door she quickly noticed the boxes sitting around the living room and it looked as if things had been thrown from shelves and tables to the floor.

"Ah. Sorry about the mess… I've been doing a little… cleaning, I guess." Naruto put his hand behind his head and gave an embarrassed kind of laugh.

"This is logical? Cleaning the crap out of your house is more important than me?"

"What's wrong with you? I did come to visit you. You just weren't awake to see. And why are getting so angry about me not coming to visit? Well, whatever."

Naruto smiled at Ino and began to mumble something about how heavy the boxes were and how much crap he didn't know he had. Ino wasn't really paying attention, she just blankly stared at him. At the smile he had on his face, at the way how he changed so much in these past few days. A week ago, she had looked over at the stool where he was and the blank stare he held at the floor. One week ago, he couldn't even manage to smile; he wouldn't even talk to his best friend. But now, everything seemed to be alright. As if nothing had really happened.

"Ino? Are you really okay? You sure you can really be out of the hospital?" Ino looked back at him, who now was looking curiously at her face.

"Oh… yeah. Of course I am. I'm just a little tired."

"Well, I guess you can't really help me then eh?" Naruto began to look around the room just realizing at how messy it really was and let out a sigh. "Boy I could use the help though. But you go upstairs to Sakura's room and go rest a little bit there, it looks like a storm's starting."

Ino gazed in amazement at Naruto and how he was able to control his emotions. 10 years ago she first met a weak and shy Naruto and now he's grown up into an adult. The Naruto that had come to grow on her had really changed, and she just noticed it for the first time.

"Ino? You're spacing out again. I really think you should get up and rest." Naruto was now grabbing her hand and leading her up the stairs and into a room. "Here. It's a little cluttered because of the boxes, but I'm sure you'll manage." Another smile came across his face as he closed the door.

Ino began to scan the room at all the boxes, it really was cluttered. She could hardly move around without knocking something over and the light switch was hidden behind one of the boxes somewhere. Then she eventually gave up and just sat down on the bed and flopped down on her back. She felt exhausted, all that walking in the cold with all that snow and the heat building up in the cluttered room; she felt a fever coming on.

"Na…" Then noticing the bottle of Tynenol beside the bed she picked it up and popped it open, pouring out the last 2 pills. She swallowed it dry and decided to take a quick nap before she got anymore sick.

Naruto was in the middle of taping a few boxes down when he heard the door upstairs click open. "You awake already?" He quickly glanced over to the clock behind him. "It's only been an hour and a bit." He moved the box down so that he could see up the stairs, but almost dropped it when he saw Ino standing right behind it.

"Ho…don't scare me like that!" Naruto put the box down slowly making sure that nothing inside had broken. Then he looked back towards Ino, who was still standing there. There was something definitely wrong. It's not like Ino to keep quiet for so long…

"Hey Ino, are you okay? You look… a little flushed." Naruto moved his face closer to examine hers, but she inched back a bit and quietly responded.

"It's really hot in there…and I still feel hot out here, can we go outside?"

"Uh… sure… I guess." He walked over to the sofa to pick up both their jackets. This is new, I'm kinda enjoying this. No loud, noisy Ino… she doesn't seem like she's depressed or anything…

"Here." Ino took the jacket and slowly put it on as Naruto watched her from the door.

The pair slowly walked down the street, seemingly aimless. Ino held her hands together tightly in front of her as she walked while Naruto had his hands behind his head, staring up at the clouds above him. The new Ino was too quiet; things were getting awkward extremely fast.

"so… uh… where we heading?"  
"…"

Naruto gave a stare over at Ino who just tilted her head down at the floor. Is she… embarrassed? or something? Maybe this new Ino ain't so great. He began to look around to see if there was anything around to do.

"Hey, I never knew that park was still around…"

"C'mon lets go!" Ino continued to walk at the same pace though. Irritated, Naruto quickly grabbed her hand and began to pull her to the park.

"Ah. This place brings back memories! This is where we met! And during the winters you, me, and Sa…." He trailed off. "used to play here! I'd always grab a snowball and throw it at you, and even until now, I have no idea why you hate snow so much."

He began to laugh as he continued to look around and let the nostalgia flood him, when suddenly something cold hit the back of his head. He flung around quickly and tried to find out where the snowball came from. Ino was standing there, a second snowball in her head ready to throw. This time it came hurtling towards his face but he managed to dodge it.

"HEY! I thought you hated sn…" He quickly dodged a third snowball "…ow."

A giggle came from where Ino was standing.

"oh I see how it is." Naruto bent down quickly to pick up some snow and began to make a snowball. As he was about to throw the snowball, Ino quickly ran around to the other side of the park.

"you're not getting away THAT easily!"

He began to chase her around the park as he held the snowball in his hand, ready to throw. He watched her run behind the slides and followed her. As he rounded the corner, suddenly there was a flutter or snow in his face and his feet lost balance underneath him and fell into a pile of snow.

The snow covered his face but when he tried to brush it off with his hands, he felt something hold them down to the ground. He began to shake his head, trying to get the snow off to see what happened. He managed to catch a blur of Ino on top of him, while her hair caressed his face. Suddenly his entire body stopped struggling. His blood stopped flowing a split second then rushed rapidly through his body. There were warm breaths on his face, and they were getting warmer and warmer. His imagination began throwing images around his mind. His heart raced faster and faster. He slowly opened his clenched eyes and found himself staring deeply into a pair of azure eyes. He felt the weight shift on his arms but before he could do anything he felt her lips brush on his. His eyes widened as he looked at her flushed face. He was too stunned to do anything. So stunned that it took him a good minute to notice that Ino had fallen over beside him, unconscious.


	7. Merry Christmas?

hello everybody who is reading this. i'm actually kinda late posting this. a day and some late, actually. i'm sorry haha. i guess i couldn't finish it QUITE on time. BUT anyway. turns out i won't be making a new years special.... at least in time for it. it might exist still, though.

but besides that. here is the chapter. it's SLIGHTLY rushed. there could be possible grammatical errors, and maybe some things WONT quiteeee be right. but hopefully nothing too bad.

the person who normally beta's for me is currently not here so this is before someone has actually read it. including myself, because i wanted to post it asap.

i will read this and maybe fix it up tomorrow... so.... yeah. please bare with me.

and yes. i love haku too. i AM going to give him a big role. somehow.

* * *

*haii.

Naruto held the red and white bottle in his right hand while his left hand hung off the sofa, and touching the floor. He turned the bottle around in his hand, reading the instructions printed on the back. "Take two pills a day every 4 to 6 hours as needed…do not take more than directed…" I wonder how many she took… He slightly angled it, revealing a line of black printed letters on the white bottle. April 2006. He let out another sigh as he went back to reading the instructions again. I wonder what happens if people take more than one pill… when it expired almost 3 years ago. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed again. The memories of previous night filled his mind instantly. What am I goi…

"Naruto?"

Naruto suddenly felt a shock go through his entire body. He sat up instantly, clutching the empty bottle with both his hands, his eyes suddenly fixated on the floor. He heard the soft creaking as Ino slowly walked down the stairs.

"There you are Naruto. I guess I was pretty tired, I slept all night eh?"

…She doesn't remember what happened. Oh crap. What now? If I explain to her what happened, she'll kill me. Maybe if I don't tell her, she won't remember… yeah that sounds good.

Naruto quickly looked up from the floor and at Ino, who was only wearing an oversized black t-shirt. Naruto instantly felt his cheeks flush and his body began to shake from his anxiety. Oh shi… I forgot about that.

"Hm? What's wrong Naruto?" Ino looked down at her own body. The loudest scream Naruto had ever heard, suddenly filled the entire room. Ino suddenly tried grab Naruto's legs but he pulled them away just in time.

"WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES?!"

Naruto quickly jumped over the other side of the sofa, distancing himself from Ino.

"uhm, well, you see… Last night, your clothes got all wet from the snow and uh, I was afraid you'd get sick so I changed you into what was around…"

"YOU?! YOU changed MY clothes?! AND WHAT snow. Why the HELL would I be wet from snow, I HATE that stuff. Why would I even go NEAR IT?!"

"uh… well, I actually have to go. I gotta meet up with Sasuke…" Naruto quickly ran around the sofa and barely passed by Ino as she tried to grab him. He grabbed his jacket and quickly put on his shoes and ran out the door.

Ino let herself fall onto the sofa. What the hell?! What was he talking about. WHAT snow. Ino leaned her head back onto the top of the sofa. Did something happen while I was sleeping? Ino tried to think back to what happened, but all she could draw was a blank. UGH. There's something poking my back. Ino furiously stuck her hand into the sofa and grabbed what was there and was about to throw it but she noticed what it was.

What the… what is this doing here? She brought the white bottle closer. Then it felt like she had just fallen a few stories and landed flat on the ground. She remembered.

Naruto quickly slammed the door behind me, jumped down the stairs and began to run straight down the street. He began to slow down to a walk when he thought he had gotten far enough. He stopped walking, looked up at the sun as it slowly climbed up into the sky and gave a sigh. What am I gonna do for the rest of the day?

Suddenly he felt someone's hand pat on his shoulder and his body instantly froze. Naruto slowly turned his head around, expecting to certain death but he saw a young man, a little taller than him, smiling back.

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto stood there, slightly baffled. He stared at the figure in front of him, his eyes blinked a few times as if to get something out of them.

"HAKU?!"

Naruto quickly turned himself around to get a better look at the person, scanning him from his head to his toe.

"It really is you Haku! When was the last time I saw you?!"

Haku walked beside Naruto, his arm now around Naruto's neck, "Well, let's get some food while we talk, I'm starving."

The two of them started walking down the street, past the people who were busy setting up their shops for the day.

"So what have you been up to. It's been so long!"

"Well, you know, just the usual… missions and more missions."

"I would imagine. Anbu must really keep you busy!"

"Yeah… I never thought I'd actually get used to it, but hey I'm here now, aren't I?"

"You should be thanking me for your life now."

Haku suddenly stopped walking, his arm pulling Naruto back, making him almost trip. Haku looked over to the shop beside him and pointed his thumb towards it.

"Well, how about I do that by treating you to some barbeque?"

The two of them walked into the store and looked waited for someone to welcome them. When they got seated, Haku quickly ordered some food while Naruto began to take off his jacket. Within a minute, the food came and Naruto was already throwing it onto the grill. As soon as the meat looked ready, Naruto quickly grabbed the meat off the grill and began to shove it into his mouth.

"This ain't ramen, but it sure is good."

"You should swallow your food before talking, you could choke."

Naruto ignored Haku's comment and continued stuff more meat into his mouth, before throwing more meat onto the grill.

"So, you still haven't told me, what brings you back to Konoha?"  
Haku's eyes suddenly widened and his face filled with shock.

"You can't be serious right?"  
Naruto suddenly felt extremely confused. Thoughts began to race through his mind, was he missing something important? Everytime he looked up at Haku's face while in his thoughts, made him feel like he was.

"Uh…am I missing something?"  
Haku started chuckling.

"I can't believe this Naruto, you really have changed! It's Christmas soon, and you completely forgot!"  
Naruto's eyes widened. How could he have forgotten about his favourite holiday?! Then something hit him. Christmas. Shopping. Naruto felt the blood from his face slowly drain away.

"Naruto? You okay?"

Haku's voice drowned in his thoughts. I have to get her something amazing, and maybe she'll completely forget about what happened. What's the most amazing Christmas present ever? What do girls even WANT for Christmas, they have everything they need already.

"Guess you forgot about Christmas shopping too eh? Well, having trouble thinking about what to get Sakura? Speaking of which, how has she been?"

The name alone felt like a punch in the gut to Naruto. He lowered his head, his eyes watching the meat as the red in it slowly fade away. There wasn't a response, Naruto just let the sizzling of the meat fill the silence. Naruto reached out and picked off a piece of meat from the grill and put it on Haku's plate. He looked up at Haku and a sad smile crossed his face.

"Nee-chan's dead."

Ino flopped forwards onto the sofa and let out a sigh. She buried her face onto the arm rest of the sofa, her body completely drained of energy. She peered over the arm rest at the room that not quite as filled with boxes. She turned onto her side as she picked up the white bottle and started to stare at it. She tilted the bottle slightly until she could clearly read the printed line of words.

What am I going to do… he knows. Why was I so stupid? Ugh. Stupid medicine.

The front door suddenly opened and a gust of cold air filled the room. Ino quickly sat up and looked over at the door, seeing Naruto come in. He looked over back at her, their eyes meeting for a second. Ino was about to say something but then Naruto looked away behind him and then came into the house. Ino stood up to walk towards him when she noticed Haku coming in behind Naruto. He looked over at her and gave her a wave. Ino smiled back but her eyes quickly went back to watching Naruto as he took off his shoes.

"Hey Ino. Naruto didn't tell me that you were the one who was moving in with him."  
"Huh? Oh. No, I'm not, I was just uh… visiting."

Naruto looked up around at the room and then at Ino.

"I see you managed to find Nee-chan's clothes."

Ino suddenly remembered what happened and felt her anger bubble inside her.

"YOU SHUT UP. You don't get to talk. Anyway, Haku, sorry I can't stay and talk, I gotta go."

She quickly grabbed her stuff walked by the two of them and out the door.

Haku looked at Naruto, "So. What'd you do this time?" Then he looked around at the room, "Ah. You ditched her to clean the house by herself, while you went out and had fun without her."

Naruto took his eyes off the bottle on the floor and turned around, giving a weak smile, "Well. I guess you could say that."

Ino stormed through the streets as thoughts of ways to murder Naruto popped into her mind. He's such an idiot. Ugh. Before she knew it, Ino had arrived home and she almost literally kicked the door down because the lock wouldn't open. God, the world's against me today. She quickly ran up the stairs and into her room where she started to rummage through her closest until she found a half finished white sweater. She sat down on the floor as she put the sweater and the clump of wool it was attached to on her lap.

She looked at it for a few moments and she felt herself smiling. Ino took the sweater and shoved into a bag that was lying around on the floor and was out of the house as fast as she had came in. She ran through the streets until she finally got to where she wanted to go. She stopped in front of the door and looked in her bag to make sure she didn't leave anything she needed at home. Ino looked at the doorbell and pressed it gently, listening to the ring echo behind the door. The lock clicked the door slowly opened. Ino smiled at the person in front of her.

"I'm here to knit again!"

A groan responded to her enthusiasm.

"You're so troublesome Ino."

Shikamaru looked down at the bag in her hands and scoffed.

"You haven't made much progress over the last year, have you?"

"It's your fault! I don't have anyone to knit the size to! You're always so busy."

"Hai Hai. Whatever. Just come in."

Ino quickly followed after Shikamaru, who was already out of sight by the time she got her shoes off. She ran through the halls until she got to his room. She ripped open the door and saw him lying on the floor, his back against her, reading some books.

"You're such a jerk sometimes."

"You just care too much sometimes."

Ino sat down behind him and started to get the sweater out.

"Sit up…jerk."

Shikamaru closed the book and sighed. He sat up and pulled another a book underneath the one he finished and put it in his lap. He felt Ino press the sweater to his back as he continued to read.

"Sit up straight…" Ino mumbled as she continued to knit behind him. Shikamaru complied while he picked up a third book off the floor and started flipping through it. There was silence in the room except for the clicking of the needles and the instances where Ino would screw up and swear to herself.

Shikamaru tossed the book over to the floor and turned around to face Ino. She looked up from her knitting and looked back down, a vexed look crossed her face. Shikamaru was about to say something but Ino suddenly looked up and pressed the sweater up to his chest. He felt his arms being lifted up as Ino measured out the length of the sleeves. Then she came really close to his neck.

"hm… you think that I should make the neck a little longer?"

Shikamaru looked down at her, who was still staring at the neck of the sweater. He couldn't stop staring at the azure of her eyes and how curiosity seemed to gleam from them. She looked up at him making him jump on the inside. He felt blood rush to his face.

"Are you okay?"

"uh. Yeah." Shikamaru quickly turned back around and picked up a book that he already read and pretended to read again.

"So you think I should make the neck a little longer?"

"Depends on who you're knitting this sweater for."

There was a pause. Shikamaru looked from the book and over his shoulder to see Ino holding the sweater in her lap, staring at it. She looked up and caught him trying to quickly turn back to his book.

"I would think someone like you would've figured that out by now."

Shikamaru started to read a random paragraph that he already read once to clear his mind a bit but the clicking of the needles distracted him.

"Well. Seeing as to how much effort you're putting into this, it's obviously someone important."

There wasn't a response, but the clicking continued.

"There's really only one other person who has about the same body size as me."

The clicking was the only response, again.

"You like Naruto."

The clicking stopped. Ino heard the words come from his mouth and it felt like a spear stabbing through her body. It wasn't like she hadn't already come to accept this fact. It was the fact that Shikamaru had acknowledged it. That he knew. Her eyes began to tear and felt herself having choking to say what she needed to.

"I…..'m…. sorry…."

She tried to calm herself down a bit so she could finish her sentence.

"I'm…sorry. I'm making you do something like this for me… I'm so selfish…"

"So. Naruto eh?"

Shikamaru felt himself chuckle a little.

"That guy's really something else. He's gonna do great things for the village one day."

He turned around to face Ino, who was wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

She meekly looked up at him through her tear filled eyes and he smiled at her.

"Does he know? You know how Naruto's like, he won't really know until you tell him exactly how you feel."

Shikamaru got up and picked up the sweater which was lying on the floor beside Ino. He put it up this body and put his arm to each sleeve and nodded a few times.

"Well, looks like you've made a lot of progress on this. Kiba and Hinata have organized a party for Christmas at 3 or so at the restaurant down the street. You know, the one where we used to go with Asuma once in a while."

He took the sweater and folded it back into the bag Ino brought it in and put it on her lap. He held out his hand to help her up.

"Come on. It's getting late, I think you should be getting home."

Ino suddenly stood up and looked over at the clock behind Shikamaru.

"Oh my God. My dad's gonna kill me."

She grabbed the bag and her stuff and began to run through the hallway, while Shikamaru slowly followed. By the time Shikamaru got to the door, Ino had already had her coat and shoes on and was already heading out.

"Thanks Shika! Maybe you can not act like a jerk sometimes. You'll find a nice girl one day."

Ino disappeared through the door and Shikamaru stood there for a second.

"You know I have. She just doesn't see me in that way."

The light from the window gradually moved until it hit Ino's eyes. Her body automatically turned onto it's side to evade it, but then her eyes flashed open. The light blinded her instantly, making her eyes shut, but she managed to open them slightly as her hands frantically searched for her clock. She peaked over the side of her bed, to see a clock lying face down and a single battery beside it.

She rolled out off her bed, the cold air instantly giving her goose bumps. She rummaged through the stuff she had on her table until she finally found her watch and checked the time. 2:03. Her heart started pulsing extremely fast, as Ino rushed into the washroom to prepare for her day.

Ino ran down the stairs as fast as she could without falling, while checking the time on her watch. 3:12. She got to her door and quickly put on her boots, and looked through her bag to make sure she had what she needed. The white wrapped gift seemed illuminate back at her from her bag. She smiled to herself, although she was up until 5 finishing up the sweater, it was now neatly wrapped in a box. It felt like her heart starting to warm up, until she looked at her watch again. 3:16. This time her heart nearly jumped out from her chest as she ran out the door, slamming it behind her.

Ino ran as fast as she could down the street, as she looked at her watch. 3:32.

"You know, the place down the street where we used to go with Asuma once in a while."

We went to so many places with Asuma back then, and there are at least 10 different restaurants ON this street.

She finally saw the sign up ahead and a person standing by the restaurant door. As she got closer, she saw who it was. Her heart began to race even faster, and she ran even faster to get to the restaurant now. By the time Ino got in front of the restaurant she was out of breath and her legs felt like they were going to give out anytime. She let her body lean against the light pole as she caught her breath. Naruto walked over and let out a chuckle.

"You… shut… up…"

He grabbed her hand and started to pull her away from the restaurant. Ino almost fell over as Naruto dragged her along into the streets.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm going to give you your Christmas present."

"You could just give it to me in there."

"If I could, I wouldn't have waited for you out there. It's not here."

"Then where is it?"

Naruto continued to pull Ino along, not looking back at her. But a smile seemed be glued onto his face

"You'll see."

They weren't in the streets anymore, but were walking along a small narrow path up a hill. The snow here was untouched, except for the trail that seemed to have been crudely shoveled out.

"Where are you taking me?"

There was no answer, not even a glance. He simply kept on leading her, holding tightly onto her mitteneded hands. Ino looked at her watch on her free hand. 3:51.

"How much longer is this going to take?"

"Are you trying to RAPE me?!"

"OH MY GOD!"

He still didn't look back but a sigh escaped from him, leaving a trail of his breath behind him. The wind blew by and it pierced her bare neck, making her entire body shiver.

"How far are we going… I'm starting to get cold…" Her voice trailed off, not expecting her remark to have been heard. But he suddenly stopped and she nearly ran into him.

"Don't stop so suddenly!"

Another sigh came from him as he began to take off his white scarf.

"You complain too much." He bent down a little so that his eyes were level with hers. He began to brush her long hair over one of her shoulders.

"What are you doing, you creep?!" Her hands lightly pushed away his hand.

His breath came out in a puff this time. He bent forward, his face coming closer to hers.

"Calm down." She felt his breath from his words and began to feel her face flush.

He began to move his arms forward toward her and she clenched her eyes shut, expecting some force. But instead she felt something warm begin to wrap around her neck. Slowly, she began relax and open her eyes. Suddenly he had come very close, his head tilting down, his forehead almost touching hers. She began to stare at his face and her hand began to move up and touched his face. His eyes looked up to meet hers through his bangs; she pushed them back as she moved her hand back to the side of his face. She began to pull him closer until her lips met the warmth of his.

After a few moments, theirs lips parted and he looked down at her eyes. The blue in them seemed to glow, and the expectant look on her face made his heart beat even faster than it already was.

He slowly opened his mouth to say something.

"…I…"


End file.
